Friday, June 1, 2012

Because I grew up listening to baseball on the radio, whenever I
heard the word “rhubarb,” I wouldn’t think of something edible and delicious
like this amazing Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, I’d think of fights.

Back in the early days of radio, when they wanted to get the
sound effect of an angry mob, they’d tell the performers to repeat the word
“rhubarb,” over and over. It sounds heated and contentious, yet the listener
doesn’t hear any specific words.

Baseball announcers of the same era began to call baseball
fights “rhubarbs,” since they sounded so much like those radio effects. I
didn’t learn about this until recently, and it made me think of all the games
I’d listened to during all those summers, and how never once when I heard
“rhubarb,” did I think of pie.

That was until I got this wonderful recipe from my mother
Pauline, who I believe got it from my Aunt Angela. As you longtime readers
know, both are fantastic bakers and while I love all their pies, this might be
my favorite.

So, when Matt Cain drills Matt Kemp in the back this summer,
and he charges the mound prompting an ugly benches-clearing brawl, and the
play-by-play guy says, “we’ve got ourselves a real rhubarb now,” I will think
of this pie. This delicious, rough and tumble pie. Enjoy!

Wow, I really wanted an idea for the huge rhubarb plant growing in Dad's backyard and whamo!!! Dad always talks about a great rhubarb pie his mother used to make...but we never had the recipe. I think I might score some serious points with this! I know what I will be doing this weekend!Thanks for your great videos, excellent writing and narration.I just love your site! Thanks from Deborah in Salem, MA

You know you watch too many Food Wishes videos when you went "WAIT, why didn't he do the 'ol tappa tappa right after pouring in the custard?! Ahh... there it is." And all was right in the world again. Will try this recipe out for my boyfriend!

I made this pie and I'm waiting for it to cool down. Looks amazing. I had to make my own pie crust because where I live we have a lot of rhubarb, but no pre-made frozen pie crusts. =) I think we got the better part of the bargain.

I made this pie this morning and we just ate it as a late night treat. VERY good! I will make it again this week. I used all the strawberries and some of the rhubarb picked fresh from my garden. I had some stalks already on hand from a produce market from making another dessert. My plant isn't very big, yet. Maybe next year.

I absolutely love strawberry rhubarb pie but have never tried the custard version. As soon as strawberries are available here I will be trying this. The local berries are still at least 3 weeks away and a pie this good deserves local berries and not the tasteless stuff that is in the stores now. Thankfully the rhubarb that is plentiful now freezes very well.

dear chef john, first let me say thank you for all your wonderful videos i have been watching for years now and they are the major reason that i have learned to cook. i have been having a problems with this custard (it turns out a little runny) and was wondering if this could be solved by adding 1-2 egg yolks?

I cooked the pie for 70 min. and it appeared to be set when i wiggled it around. I let it cool for a few hours on the counter and then covered it and put in the fridge overnight. I just took the plastic wrap off and it was mostly liquid in the middle. I was able to break off some of the crust with rhubarb and strawberries attached and it was really good. Do you think the strawberries were over ripe or was it undercooked?

Hi Chef John,I've been following your blog for a while and this is the first recipe I have tried myself and I LOVED it!!! It was so easy to make and came out perfect. I will be trying more and more off your awesome blog! Thanks!

Thank you so much for this amazing recipe Chef John! I made this yesterday and my family loved it. We have a ton of rhubarb and strawberries in our garden so strawberry rhubarb pie is a common sight around this time of year. This will definitely replace my old recipe. The sweet custard pairs perfectly with tart rhubarb. Also, thanks for the interesting facts; I have never heard of rhubarb as a baseball term.

Chef John- I made this for my dad for Father's day and it was really good! Like others who tried this, the custard was a little soupy, but it was *this* close to holding together. Maybe a little more flour? I did drain the strawberries well. My mom says rhubarb contains a LOT of water so maybe that had something to do with it as well. Well, at any rate, needing to fix the error gives me incentive to use this recipe again! >:-)

I made this last night. Seemed cooked but when it came out of the fridge the morning, the middle was soupy. I'm sure it'll still be tasty! wonder what I did wrong? Maybe I should have cooked it longer.

Love your videos! I'm a celiac though, so do you think I could sub a GF A/P flour or something else fornthe regular flour?? Also, we don't like our rhubarb overly sweet, so if I used a little less sugar would that affect the custard?

I love your videos!! I want to make this pie, but I'm a celiac. Do you think I could sub a GF A/P flour for the regular flour in this? Also, we don't like our rhubarb overly sweet, will reducing the amount of sugar in the custard affect the ability to set?

Hi Chef John, I made the strawberry Rhubarb today. i followed your recipe exactly and i baked it for 1 hr. it seem to be set when i took it out more like watery so i put it back in the oven for 15 minutes and no change. i let it cool and it didnt thicken. i then put it in the fridge and still no change. Chef John what dio you think went wrong and what can i do to make it right if i can?

I made this pie for my niece's birthday party. She loves strawberries and the pie was great surprise. She liked it so much, that we had to clean some strawberry stains from the carpet. :D After all the pie was the hit of the party! Thanks for the recipe!

Just as a warning to those of you who are going to use the rhubarb in your backyard: Do not take the big fat ones, take the smaller, newer plants. Rhubarbs have the same acid that their big leaf has, the only difference is that the younger rhubarbs don't have as much of the acid as the older ones. You can use rhubarb all year, well, as long as there's rhubarb, but you have to pluck out the older ones so that new rhubarbs can sprout.

Mine turned out a little soupy as well, and this is several hours after being in the fridge. I think it's because I used frozen (thawed) strawberries. They are extremely juicy, and that extra moisture probably prevented the custard from setting. I might try using cornstarch instead of flour next time! Nevertheless, the pie was FREAKING DELICIOUS. This recipe is amazing.

If it helps, the posters who suggested that theirs remained soupy or too wet, it may be that your oven is not reaching the temperature it is supposed to. I had an old oven that regularly sat about 20-30 degrees celcius cooler than what was on the dial. This was confirmed with a cheap in-oven thermometer. I adjusted the dial accordingly and my recipes all turned out better. Good luck folks, and Chef John, thanks for the brilliant recipes!

I made this pie with blackberries and blueberries. Both were frozen and I did not thaw. This added about 35 minutes to the cooking time but it still turned out great. The only difference I would make next time is to cut the sugar when using such sweet berries. The tart rhubarb would need the full amount but my berries were already very sweet!

I've been making this pie, following the recipe to the letter, for about 2 years. I just popped on here today to get the recipe once again as I'm making 2 of them for a party tomorrow. I'm scratching my head about the comments regarding the custard being soupy. I've easily made about 30 of these now, and not a one has turned out loose. We even did 6 of them in the toaster oven last year when my oven took a powder. Thanks, Chef John, for a family fav!

I made this the other night, and it turned out.. interestingly. The flavors were delicious, but the texture was extremely runny, despite cooking for a very long time. I suspect it's because I used frozen fruit, and it just had way too much water in it. I thawed/drained them before using, but I suppose that wasn't enough. Is this only going to work with fresh fruit?

I have been making rhubarb-custard pie for years - use 4 cups rhubarb and no strawberries. Otherwise pretty much the same. ALWAYS use fresh rhubarb just cut in backyard. NEVER use frozen fruit. Frozen fruit and custard do not work together. Frozen fruit will prevent the custard from setting up even if the fruit is drained.And PLEASE, always make your own crust!